hey everyone!! its been a while since i posted..school just started and i have been busy with doctors appointments.

I was wondering how may people in this forum has short hair as opposed to long hair? before i got sick i used to have very long, nice hair. after being in the hospital for so long, pednisone, cellcept etc most of my hair fell out and i had to start over. It was so mortifying. one of things that women take pride in is their hair and i was one of those. i was lucky enough to meet someone who specializes in hair extensions for people with hair loss. I had extensions in my hair for about 5 months and they were great, i had long beautiful hair and the only people who knew were my close friends, family, and boyfriend.

well it was a few days before school started and for some reason i just decided that i wanted to have my real hair back. I took out my extensions and had my friend cut it for me. My hair is so short!! it kind of looks like a boy cut and i still dont know how i feel about it. I really like having my hair back but i still miss having long beautiful hair.

Does anyone else have short hair or have lost a lot of hair due to lupus? Just looking for some support :)

On another note, I had an appointment with my hemotologist yesterday he said he would like to see if it is possible to take my vena cava filter out. he said that they do not know the long term effects of having a filter in for a long period of time because there have never really been any 20 year olds that have the filters in and leave them in for life. I will find out over the next few days whether or not i need to undergo a procedure to remove the filter.

i was also wondering if there was anyone else out there who have a vena cava filter in place to prevent embolisms. Has anyone had a filter in for a long period of time?

So sorry about your hair sis . . . wear it proudly girl!! Use lots of product and sass it up. It seems that it comes down to how we feel about ourselves . . . more than how others feel about us. I think WE set the stage for how people size us up. Still, it is a huge loss to stand in the shower and fell handsful of hair falling out.

I don't enough hair loss to make it look super thin . . . but it is cerainly thinner than it should be. I keep trying new syles to try and find a way to make the best use of whats there.

I never heard of the vena cava filter. I'm going to look it up. It IS something I had imagined though and wondered how possible it would be to filter blood for clots . . . . sounds really interesting . . . I'm going to check it out now.

I've had to have a short haircut for a long time, because when I grow it long, it falls out more severely. I don't have an official diagnosis of Lupus, but do have an elevated ANA and some strange blood test numbers (low WBC, etc.).

Short hair is great! Styling time is cut in half, you can try out some of the great styling products out there, get some great highlites etc.

My hair was fine and fairly thin to begin with. Lupus flares and cellcept contributed to hair loss. So I definitely have kept my hair short. A good hair cutter is a must! I invested in some good makeup (the mineral kind) to help with the complexion and when going out (which is rare for this grammie, but not rare for you, a young thing). Also, with short hair you can really play up your eyes!

You'll find ways to make the best of it and before long, you'll be loving it! Oh, also I've seen girls wearing big earrings and looking great. (They actually remind me of earrings we used to wear when I was in college many moons ago!)

The hair thing can be a big deal and it's something I've been struggling with lately too. Before lupus I had long naturally curly hair that I really liked and it was very easy to do. Now my hair is very thin (from falling out) and fine and it doesn't have the ringlets, it just has some weird waves and curls to it so that it doesn't stay styled at all, especially now that I sweat so much. Even if I have the energy to style it, it looks terrible a few hours later because I've sweated and it makes my hair go crazy. I know a good stylist and at my next appointment I'm going to ask for his honest opinion and ask him if he had free reign with my hair what he would do. I have to admit that I'm hung up on the hair thing because I've always had long to medium hair and it was something I always identified with being feminine. I liked what emmi said about short hair though and I'm thinking mine might need to go kind of short. It's the shortest it's ever been right now and I'm struggling with that. I also think my current cut accentuates my round prednisone face and I don't want that.

I feel the same way as Hippi. I don't want to let go of my medium to long hair. It's something that I am trying to hold onto. Its thinning though especially around the crowning part of my hair. I don't have bangs but have considered having my hair stylist cut some. She didn't want to last time and I'm scared it will make things look worse. I wish I had enough courage to cut my hair, just the cutting down on the styling time for me would be worth it alone.

I've always had short hair so length itself isn't that much of an issue for me. BUT, the Cellcept has certainly changed the texture of my hair, and caused some thinning. I'm sure that is much more difficult to deal with if you've maintained longer hair for a while.

It's changed enough that I'm having difficulty finding a hairdresser than can do anything decent with it. Didn't matter so much when I didn't feel well enough to go out, but now that I'm feeling better the search for a hairdresser is a much higher priority.

Hi, MissCali. I have certainly had a hard time with my hair loss. It seems to happen more to me during times of tapering my prednisone. I used to have long hair down to my waist. It has always been somewhat fine, but it was my "pride and joy" because I grew it while being in my coma (while being fed intraveinously -sp? the good stuff I'd never actually eat!) Earlier this year while tapering, I had a good sized "chunk" come out on the lower right side of my head just below my ear. At the same time, it was shedding from all over, so it really looked a mess. I have a hairdresser that I love. She understands what I go through with my health, so she really spends quality time trying to help my hair. She cut mine even with my jaw line to help mask that hair loss while it regrew. It has since evened up with the rest of my hair, but because my hair has always been fine with NO body in it; there is NO styling it! This style would look nice if I could get the ends to curl under the way they're supposed to. Oh well, my hair seems to get to be a smaller and smaller problem the more I have to deal with from this disease! I hope you can adjust and maybe get a hairdresser to work with you to make it easier on you. Good luck!

PS--I don't know anything about the filter you have to deal with...sorry.Always looking for the silver lining, Sharen

I went short with my hair last Summer and it is sooo much easier to deal with in the mornings (especially on the mornings where just taking a shower seems a struggle). I used to have long thick brown hair and loved it but it just got too tiring to deal with every day so I went short with mine and can't even remember now what it was like to have it long. I wash it in the morning, run some mousse though it with my fingers and am done. I love it. Fast and easy.

I, too, have short hair and I go back and forth between short and medium length depending upon how I feel. It is much easier to get ready in the mornings with a shorter cut when I have to get up at 5 AM and look my best all day. Ocean1 is right, a little mousse and you are good to go! I can completely relate to missing my longer hair. I sometimes feel so pudgy looking with my shorter cut from the prednisone weight gain. I think it all depends on how much you want to deal with each day. Hair extensions might be expensive and there is a fair amount of upkeep, I am guessing, but if the longer hair makes you feel better then that is something to seriously consider. I think that a shorter cut looks more professional and can definitely be more stylish than the longer styles. I would not let others opinions get in the way of what is best for your situation, though. I wonder if you could experiment with those long clip-on or comb-like extensions for days you want to "appear" to have longer hair. I have a couple of those myself that I use when I go to a party or a nice dinner with my husband or with friends. (Don't wear one when you fly, however, the bobby pins set off the airport security system and then you have to take it all down. This happened to me when I flew home from the Mayo Clinic a few years ago - it was rather funny, actually. I was in the airport bathroom frantically trying to put it back up and they began boarding my flight. What a day! LOL!) Anyway, I wish you luck and will keep you in my prayers!

I remember when I was first diagnosed with Lupus, I had hair fall out. I never lost all my hair, but it definately got thinner. When my health improved, so did my hair growth (thickness).

In January I got my boyfriend to SHAVE OFF my shoulder-length hair!! I figured it was January - a new year, and short hair is way more convienient when travelling (in my opinion). He buzzed it off with the #4 clipper blade. I wasn't bald, but my boyfirend liked to (lovingly) tease me that I looked like a monk! haha. But I love it. I love short hair. You don't have to worry about blowdrying it or taking 50million years to style it. I actually just got it buzzed again a couple weeks ago!